She loves to hit

On the football field, it’s all about performance, not gender

Miranda Morgan, 15, daughter of Guary and Cassie Morgan, has played football with her teammates since fourth grade — from Pee Wee Football through seventh grade, junior high and is now on the varsity team.
Miranda Morgan, 15, daughter of Guary and Cassie Morgan, has played football with her teammates since fourth grade — from Pee Wee Football through seventh grade, junior high and is now on the varsity team.

"I just like the idea of being able to hit and not get in trouble for it," quipped Miranda Morgan, eyes sparkling. "I just like the sport. I always have."

The soft-spoken, blue-grey-eyed young lady is not a wimp. She is an offensive guard and defensive tackle on the Pea Ridge Blackhawks varsity team and has played football in Pea Ridge since she was in the fourth grade.

Whether in practice or in the weight room, Morgan does whatever the other Blackhawk athletes do.

She doesn't ask for favors.

She doesn't receive them.

Coaches Tony Travis and Lafe Caton agreed that Morgan does not get treated differently than her teammates.

"The only accommodation is finding a locker room for her on away games," Travis said. When in town, she uses the girls' locker room while the other players go to the boys' locker room.

She played football with many of her teammates for the past seven years, first on Pee Wee, then seventh-grade, then junior high football.

"In Pee Wee, one kid didn't want to hit me because I'm a girl, but coach made him," she said, smiling.

"When I was in Pee Wee, I got my neck knocked out of place during a drill," she recalled. "My shoulder went lower than Britton's (Caudill) and his shoulder pad hit my neck."

Kamden Boyd, 15, is a sophomore on the Blackhawk football team. He has played football since the third grade and with Morgan since fourth grade.

"She plays just like one of us. The effort is the same as all of us boys out there," Boyd said. "Whenever we go up against her, it's the same as going up against a guy. It doesn't matter.

"When you're on the field, you don't feel the difference," he said, adding that since "we've played together for so long, she's just a normal part of our team."

Morgan, 15, the youngest of Guary and Cassie Morgan's three children, said she continued practice that day, then went to the doctor after ball practice.

"My mom took me. I couldn't practice and wore a neck brace for a week or two," she said.

Trainer Jaimie Mann said Morgan is treated like any other athlete.

"I had her in seventh grade," Matt Easterling remembers. "She was just like any other athlete out there... Ozark had a girl on their team, then, too."

Morgan said she has "always played football outside" with her elder brother, Devin, 21. Her older sister, Anna Morgan, 17, runs cross country for the Blackhawks.

She admitted that her parents express concern. "Sometimes they get worried," she said. "But, they said if I want to play, they'll support me all the way."

Morgan said she doesn't have a romantic interest and really doesn't care. "I just want to get through school.

"I want to be an architect," she said.

And, when she's not in the weight room or on the football field, she is in the woods at her "Mimi's" house in Garfield or swimming.

"I like to fish. I like to draw. I like to watch football," she said, adding that the Razorbacks are her favorite college team.

Sports on 08/20/2014